The Titus 2:4 Project

Remember 5th grade health class...when we got the 'talk'.  It was the highlight of the year.   I have no idea what they told the boys in 5th grade, but for the girls it was all about our body and the changes that were occurring...aka puberty.   Menstruation.  "Yippee skippee!"  Seems like we talked a lot about it.  Read books about it.  (My favorite:  Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret,  by Judy Blume.)  Most of our mother's talked to us.  Or older sisters.  Or our friends with older sisters.  We all plenty of information (albeit, most of it was likely inaccurate.) We survived puberty and became grown women.  Many of us became mothers, ourselves.  And we talked to our daughters about puberty.... Then we turn 50... and something awful starts to happen. Chin whiskers appear out of nowhere.  Gray hairs stick up from our scalp like alien antennae. We sweat at night.  Profusely. We want to do bod...

Every spring, my husband takes me flower shopping.  We stroll through the local greenhouse, picking containers of this and that...whatever looks pretty.  They all cost the same...just fill a flat for $10.  Mostly annuals.  I like to plant a variety of colorful annuals in my flower beds and one special corner by the stairs to the front porch.  When they're first planted, they are small and fragile and some seem to get a bit withered by the abrupt introduction to natural sunlight.  Some thrive right away, spreading out and bursting forth with color, while others make slow, steady progress, until finally they blossom in rich hues of gold, yellow, red and purple.  By this time of year, my flower beds are crowded and colorful.  Occasionally, I will put several flowers in large pots and set them around the deck or patio.  A nice variety of color that no garden club president would ever imagine putting together.  But it looks nice to m...

Today has been a good day.  I took my youngest son, Caleb,  kayaking.   He's done it many times, but me, I was a novice.   Not new to the creek, just the kayak.  I loved it! Caleb was very patient with me and I enjoyed hearing the excitement in his voice as he watched "huge" fish dart around beneath us.  He assured me that if he had been in a tube just then, he would have grabbed that fish right out of the water.  The highlight of my day was when he actually let me take a 'selfie' with him. That's a rarity.  His only comment was ,  "make sure you use the best one."  He failed to say of whom, so naturally it will be the one most flattering to me!  We laughed.  We chatted.  We sat in awe of the beautiful surroundings.  And I soaked him up, like the last drops of a cool glass of water in the hand of a desert nomad.  I tried to study him.  His features, growing more and more manly every day. ...